1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for hanging sausage on a rod and a method of hanging sausage on a rod, which are for hanging a chain of sausages on a rod in loops.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a chain of sausages, sausages are connected in a chain-like manner via joining portions provided at a regular interval in a casing created from the skin of an intestine or the like. With an apparatus for manufacturing a chain of sausages, a chain of sausages is created by stuffing ingredients (minced meat and the like) into a casing with a meat filling device and twisting the casing at a predetermined interval, and then the chain of sausages is hung in loops on a rod for hot smoking. A separate carriage equipped with many rod hanging portions is prepared, rods with sausage hung thereon are then manually hung one after another on the hanging portions of the carriage by a worker, and then the carriage is moved to a smoking room in order to smoke the sausage.
The task of hanging chains of sausages on rods for smoking in the above series of tasks has thus far been performed by hand, and this not only of course requires a worker to be retained, but also is poor in terms of workability and causes a reduction in the efficiency of the smoking task. For this reason, an apparatus for hanging sausage on a rod that automatically and speedily performs the task of hanging a chain of sausages on a rod in loops has been developed and put into actual use (e.g., see Patent Document 1: JP 2006-197935A).
With the apparatus for hanging sausage on a rod disclosed in Patent Document 1, loops are formed in a chain of sausages using hooks attached to a conveyor (an endless rotating member) at a predetermined interval, and the chain of sausages is hung on a rod by inserting the rod through the loops.
Meanwhile, since a predetermined number of loops are to be hung on a rod at one time in the task for hanging sausage on a rod, when one rod-worth of hooks has a chain of sausages suspended thereon, the worker severs a joining portion of the sausage and performs closure processing to prevent the ingredients from leaking out from the severed location.
Also, since the length of the chain of sausages created by the sausage manufacturing apparatus is not constant, there are cases where the end of a chain of sausages is reached before one rod-worth of a chain of sausages has been suspended on hooks. In such a case, the worker performs closure processing on the rear end portion of the chain of sausages suspended on hooks, and performs closure processing on the front end portion of the chain of sausages coming out of the sausage manufacturing apparatus, and then severs a joining portion and performs closure processing when one rod-worth of hooks has a chain of sausages suspended thereon.
Since the hooks are attached to the conveyor at a predetermined interval in the apparatus for hanging sausage on a rod disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, when a chain of sausages hung on a rod is to be removed, it is necessary to stop the conveyor and pause the task for suspending sausage on hooks. Similarly, when closure processing is to be performed on the front end portion or the rear end portion of a chain of sausages as well, it is necessary to stop the conveyor and pause the task for suspending sausage on hooks, which causes a reduction in the operating rate of the apparatus for hanging sausage on a rod.